Darren Hayes has released a 12” extended mix of his comeback track Let’s Try Being In Love.
The singer-songwriter returned earlier this year with his first single in over a decade, which is set to appear on the star’s fifth solo album.
“In ecstatic news – this is being released on April 15,” he said in an announcement. “It’s an extended version of #LetsTryBeingInLove (9 minutes and 39 seconds!) and my cover of Madonna’s ‘The Look Of Love’ from the soundtrack to her 1987 film ‘Who’s That Girl’.
“Can’t wait for you to hear both!”
Crediting Kate Bush’s 2014 ‘Before The Dawn’ concert residency and 2017 coming-of-age romantic drama movie ‘Call Me by Your Name’ for sparking an interest in staging a comeback, Darren opens up about his new music in the May 2022 edition of Retro Pop.
“The gay experience really hit me and really touched me, because I finally understood that wow, I was 24, 25, 26, at the height of my fame, therefore I was most famous when I was still struggling with my self-identification,” he says.
“I had all this attention thrust at me when I didn’t know who the fuck I was. I had been married to a woman I was divorcing but in private. Most people didn’t even know I had been married to a woman and yet I was coming out and trying to express myself through my fashion, through all my Jean-Paul Gautier outfits, and painting my nails.
“I was so struggling with my sexuality and trying to find my place in a world before ‘Drag Race’, ‘Will & Grace’, Lil Nas X, Troye Sivan, or Will Young. Those people and pioneers didn’t really exist.”
The increase in representation and an increasingly diverse media landscape marks a welcome change from the climate in which Darren found early success, which he admits was “stifling”.
“My experience of being a pop star in the ‘90s was, ‘You’re fine as long as you’re not gay.’ You had all these boybands and teen heartthrobs but god forbid if you’re gay,” he explains. “It was incredibly suffocating and for me, as someone who was literally buried by a major label the minute I came out, it was incredibly stifling.”
The hitmaker adds: “There was a huge pressure back then to ‘out’ people and the misconception about me is that I was in the closet, but nothing could have been further from the truth. I was out, I tried to be so much more out because I thought, if I just came out, it would solve all my problems.
“It took me a long time to have self-love and get rid of the toxic shame in the internalised homophobia that a lot of gay men have to go through to come out on the other side and love themselves. I was very depressed and had suicidal thoughts during that period and, had social media been around that time, I don’t know if I’d be here. It was a really tough time for me. I did as well as I could, I’m proud of the fact that I lived an authentic life and throughout my music, even during the Savage Garden days, I was really desperately trying and asking for help in my songs.”
Now, however, things are different, and it’s a relief for the superstar to return to the stage in 2022 and feel liberated to present his authentic self.
“It’s much more vibrant and liberating to be an artist today… I never fell out of love with music, I think it was the industry actually,” he believes, adding, “I’m sure a 23-year-old will listen to my story and be surprised there was a time when you couldn’t be gay.”
Read the full interview in the May 2022 edition of Retro Pop, out now. Order yours or subscribe via our Online Store or use our Store Finder to locate your nearest stockist.
